The Marauders and Snivellus
by Robyn Critch
Summary: The Marauders and Severus are in their 7th year, their petty playground arguments are long gone, and the boys are going to have to become men to fight it out.  *my first try at writing, feedback  of any sort  would be appriciated!*
1. Snivellus

Snivellus, Padfoot and Prongs. 

"Now sevvy do-"

"don't call me that mother."

"Severus Snape you will respect me. Do not forget what your potions master said, if he finds any more doodles in your books you're in serious trouble mister."

"Yes mother, whatever you say, now I really need to go-"

"well give your old mother a kiss then."

"oh mum…" the small boy with black hair protested, but his mum had already bent down and left a tell-tale lipstick mark on his cheek.

He kept his head down and ran onto the crimson train, bustled into the closest empty compartment and sat down. He had not long buried his (abnormally large) nose in a book entitled "1000 things you didn't know about amortentia" when four boys made a rather pronounced entrance into his compartment, and all sat, in a rather intimidating way, on the seat opposite.

"Sevvy! come give mummy a kiss then…"

"Oh I don't know James; poor Snivellus didn't want a little peck of his mumsy"

"Now, now Sirius, he can't help it. But it does surprise me he doesn't want a kiss off mummy, he's not going to get one anywhere else" The two boys laughed about Severus as if he wasn't there. James Potter and Sirius Black. They were two Gryffindors in their seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

James, the first one who had spoken, had scruffy black hair, messed up as if he'd just got off his broomstick, and circular glasses, which would have been a cause for insult to anyone else but James somehow managed to pull them off. His red and gold tie gleaming on his chest, he looked nothing but smug. Next to him, sat Sirius, a very handsome young man, with longer hair than James, but just as dark, he had a twinkle in his eye and a sort of charm that you could feel from a mile away.

The other two boys, who were yet to speak, were not nearly as handsome as their friends, but wore the same red and gold ties, and seemed to admire James and Sirius a lot. To Sirius' right, sat Remus Lupin, he had brown hair which sat loosely on his head, his look echoed intelligence, and one might wonder why his tie was not blue and bronze. The last, (sat half on-half off the edge of the bench) was the smallest; a boy named Peter Pettigrew. He had big teeth which very nearly stuck out between his top and bottom lips, a pinched nose which went up at the end, and wide grey eyes, which seemed to watch in awe at his friends, as if hanging on every word they said.

Yes, it would be fair to say that these four Gryffindors made Severus Snape, with his greasy black hair, long, hooked nose, and recent break-out of acne, look like a perfect target.

"James, how pleasant of you to drop by and talk to me, NEWTs this year, how exciting, you know, I've heard that they made a new grading level, it now goes: 'Troll, then Potter.' And of course, Sirius Black, I hear your Mother hates you, at least mine hasn't disowned me..." He retaliated, for no one was to believe that these boys attacked for nothing. Severus 'Snivellus' Snape had spied on the boys for their past 6 years, obsessing over potions and dark magic, he was a nosey, annoying person, but the others could have lived with this, if he wasn't spitefull aswell.

"Oh sevvy, good insult! Get it from mummy?" Sirius was probably a bit too quick witted for Severus' liking. His friends laughed, making Severus' pasty white complexion turn a very slight scarlet.

"lets go," it was James speaking this time, "I said I'd meet Lily Evans," at this his friends groaned, but strange little Severus with his green and silver tie's ears pricked up at this name, then his stomach gave a lurch.

As the boys left, he was quite content with settling down with his book, and indeed very happy to see the back of them; but also wishing he could go with them to see Lily Evans, and talk to her like he used to.


	2. Red Hair and Green Eyes

Red hair and green eyes

"Lily Evans," James addressed the girl sat closest to the window. She had brick red hair which tumbled effortlessly over her shoulders; her eyes were emeralds sparking in her face, looking into you, not at you. Why so many people fancied her was obvious, but James Potter was the one she wanted.

True, for the first 5 years of their education she thought he was arrogant and spiteful, especially to her friend Severus. But in the past year, Lily had seen the other side of Severus, and the inseparable pair became less than acquaintances. Consequently, she saw the other side of James, and she quite liked it.

"James, er, James Patter? I'm sorry what was it again?" Lily had avoided looking at James all sentence, and when she glanced at him they both burst out laughing. The only people who were left in the compartment were James, Lily, Sirius, and a Hufflepuff girl in the year below, Rita Skeeter. Sirius knew this to be a private joke between the pair, but Rita wore a look of utter confusion. She stood up to leave and Sirius followed,

"I'm gonna go and find out where Moony and Wormtail got to…" he called to James through the last inch of open door; James just waved his hand in acceptance, he and Lily were already deep in conversation.

"I thought you were coming to find me straight away? You've been ages!"

"Sorry, we had to have a little chat with, Sniv-" He was sensitive enough to realise his mistake before he completed it, "with one of the Slytherins." He finished, quite proud of his speedy reaction.

"You can say Severus, or Snivellus or whatever you call him. I don't mind, he doesn't matter anymore," she grinned at James, who smiled back. But who Lily was kidding neither of them knew, because both were sure, that he did matter to her, very much so.

"So um, Lils…"

"Yeah?"

"Well, we sent each other quite a few owls over the summer, and you know, last year we became pretty close, and I was sort of, er…" James Potter lost for words, Professor Dumbledore would not believe what he was seeing through his half-moon spectacles,

"Well, do you want to go out with me?" He breathed a sigh of relief that he'd asked Lily out, and waited in anticipation for her answer, but before he heard her say a word, her soft pink lips her locking with his, and he found himself in a split-second panic, not knowing what to do. A few long seconds later, she was pulling away, a smile formed from her mouth, and her shining white teeth were showing.

"So that's a yes then?" he asked, grinning back at Lily,

"Oh I suppose so," she said, and as he put his arm around her, he muttered something about going to find Sirius, to which she agreed. As the pair of seventh years strolled off together, now holding hands, with fingers interlocking, people stared and whispered to their friends that 'Potter and Evans were together (or together, together! As one third year exclaimed) they found Sirius a few compartments down, scavenging some chocolate frogs off some Ravenclaws in their year.

"Aye, aye Potter." He said, winking at Lily.


	3. What are you looking at Lily?

What are you looking at Lily?

The scarlet train pulled up at its destination. Clouds of suffocating smoke were spouting from the front of the large crimson vehicle and floating carelessly over the nearby hills. If you were to look through a window of the Hogwarts Express, you might see lots of children, wearing black robes bustling up and down the corridors, carrying their pet owls and remains of what they bought from the trolley. If you looked in another, you might see, a large collection of teenage witches and wizards getting ready to go back to school. If you looked in another window, you'd most definitely see a small boy, with black greasy hair and a large hooked nose, with a few lonesome tears falling down his face. But no one was looking through the windows, so no one saw little Severus Snape, it's not like anyone would care if they did.

"So you can either be Lames, or Jily. Personally, I'd go for Jily." Sirius was joking with his friends, proving a point to James, who was sceptical about how Sirius would take him and Lily. As the 5 Gryffindors stepped off the train, they approached the carriages, which every year, seemingly pulled themselves and the students the rest of the way to Hogwarts. As Sirius led the way to the carriage at the back of the troupe, 3 of the boys jumped into it, but Lily dragged James to the front of the carriage, he of course, obediently followed

"Aren't they pretty?" Lily exclaimed, staring in complete awe at the air infront of where their friends sat.

"Lily, babe, what are you looking at?" James asked earnestly, genuinely not knowing what Lily thought 'pretty'.

"Oh, James, I thought you could- I thought you could see them too." Lily looked upset as she stared back at James,

"No, no I cant. But I want to Lils, and I'll learn how just for you." He promised, not knowing why it obviously meant so much to Lily.

"I sincerely hope, James Potter, that you will never see them." She said, and although very confused, James believed her.

"I thought you said they were pretty though?"

"Oh, they are." She absentmindedly spoke, then smiled at James, and the two joined their friends in the carriage. Almost immediately it took on its way, down the familiar track back to Hogwarts.

It would be a lie to say that Lily Evans could not pretend she wasn't downtrodden by James not being able to see the thestrals. The truth was that she was downtrodden, but no one else was to know this. Why she had assumed he could see them like she could, she did not know. She supposed that he would ask more questions later that day as to why she didn't want him to see them, she _did_ want him to see them, but to see thestrals, you had to see death, and she most certainly did not want that.

She had seen death of course, when she was just 10, before she'd even known she was a witch. She had a normal family, a mother, a father, a sister and a brother. To outsiders they were normal anyway. Lily had always looked up to Jack, he was her big brother after all, and he'd always favoured her to Petunia. He used to say that she was different to her sister, and her parents, he said that he was different too, and that they should stick together. But one day, when Lily was about 6, he went away, before he went, Lily's parents were about to tell her and Petunia where he was going, but Jack had stopped them, saying he didn't want them to know.

Then 4 years later, he came back, he was 15 now, and she hadn't seen him in his absence. He stormed in and started shouting for his parents to take Lily and Petunia and to hide in the kitchen. Petunia was a timid girl and ran straight in with her parents; Lily did so too, but cautiously, and remained staring through a gap in the door. What she saw next would haunt her forever, and was the reason she saw thestrals.

Slowly realising that she had been lost in her memory, Lily blinked hard and bought her eyes back into focus, the boys were discussing Quidditch and the house cup, James had slid his arm around Lily's waist, she hadn't even realised. Quickly, she jerked her head to her left to see the carriage behind them.

"Sirius, didn't you say we were in the last carriage?" she exclaimed

"Yeah, I thought we were, obviously not, there's only one person in the carriage behind," he was squinting now, then his concentrating face turned into a smile.

"It's Snivellus Snape. Do you want to take this one Potter, or shall I?" he asked, obviously delighted at the opportunity to put Severus in his place once more.

"Erm," said James looking to Lily, "you can take this one Sirius." He finished. James felt awkward, torn between not wanting to back down infront of Sirius and the others, but also wanting to preserve Lily's feelings, as she still cared for Severus.

"SNIVELLUS. WHERE ARE ALL YOUR FRIENDS?" Sirius shouted from the edge of the carriage.

"I'm warning you Sirius Black, you say one more word to me and I- I'll jinx you."

"You wouldn't dare Severus Sna-" but the rest of Sirius' sentence was lost to the overpowering shout of 'Sectumsempra' coming from Snapes' carriage. Sirius, too quick for Severus ducked just in time. However he didn't need too, it was dark and he'd never had very good aim. Before James could say a word the spell had struck Lily square in the chest.

Blood began squirting from the place where the spell hit, then suddenly, like a knife slashing her all over, cuts which spouted blood began appearing. Lily closed her eyes, thinking she was going to die. Her body hung limp and she collapsed In James' arms.

Both carriages had stopped, Thestrals obviously sensing something wrong. Sirius had jumped off the carriage and onto Snapes.

"SEVERUS SNAPE YOU HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR THIS PUNCH EVER SINCE FIRST YEAR" he punched him hard in the stomach. Snape was crying out for Lily.

"IF LILY DIES-"

"No, she won't- she can't- I didn't mean-"

"YOU BETTER HOPE THEN."

"I need to help-" he tried to stand up, but against Sirius' force he had no chance, "Vulnera Sanentur, counter curse, 3 times, please, please." He begged. Sirius let go of him and immediately ran back to the carriage where Lily was quickly losing blood.

"Vulnera Sanentur, it's the counter curse, you'll need to do it 3 times."

"Moony," said James, "you're the best at magic, quick, please" As Lupin reached for his wand, he could hear a faint cry of Lily from the carriage behind. He held his wand over Lily's slashed body, and uttered the counter curse. As soon as he said it, the flow of blood eased up, he said it again and the wounds seemed to close up on themselves, and the third and final time the blood seemed to seep back into her body, and Lily, although scarred, looked much like her usual self.

"YOU'RE LUCKY THIS TIME SNAPE. BUT I SWEAR IF YOU GO NEAR LILY, ME OR MY FRIENDS AGAIN. YOU'RE FOR IT SNIVELLUS." James spoke, holding Lily in his arms. Snape began to cry.


	4. Hogwarts

Hogwarts

"Oh my goodness what on earth has happened here?" Professor McGonagall was looking at Lily, whom James had carried in.

"Severus Snape used some of his homemade dark magic on her Professor. If Remus hadn't used the counter curse who knows what would have happened!" the voice coming from Peter Pettigrew was rushed and enthusiastic. He looked round to see his friends glaring at him, true Severus had behaved unforgivably, but the other three weren't rats. They hadn't planned on telling what happened, but Peter had already acted, and they couldn't take it back now.

"Severus Snape come here immediately. Until Christmas you will be banned from all Hogsmeade trips, you will serve detention with me for the next month, and you will skip the feast and go straight to your dorm; I'm sure one of the house elves will be delighted to bring you up some bread and butter. Oh, and 50 points from Slytherin. Potter, take Lily to Madam Pomfrey and tell her that Mr. Black here has gone to the Herbology lab to kindly ask Miss Sprout for some Dittany. Once you have the Dittany Sirius, you will take it to Madam Pomfrey, then you will both come downstairs and join the feast, you may go and see Lily afterwards. You two may go to the feast," she gestured to Peter and Remus, "and Mr Lupin; well done for your efforts tonight, you may well have saved Miss Evans' life, 50 points to Gryffindor." The Scottish woman bustled off into the great hall and took her place at the staff table.

Moving staircases made it hard to get anywhere in Hogwarts, and the jeering people from the pictures on the walls made things a lot worse. However for James Potter, who was currently carrying his dying girlfriend to the matron, these small inconveniences were matters of life or death. As he sprinted up the staircase, his adrenaline rush seemingly giving him strength and speed, he kept glancing at Lily, and found himself telling her she was going to be okay. As he reached the door labelled "hospital wing" he barged in, not even knocking, and greeted a shocked Madam Pomfrey,

"Madam Pomfrey quick its dark magic and Sirius has gone to get Dittany and Professor McGonagall said to bring her straight here because it happened about 10 minutes ago on the carriages and can you please help her Madam Pomfrey please"

"Oh calm down boy she's going to be okay, whoever administered these counter curses did them near perfectly. So long as the Dittany's here within 10 minutes she'll be good as new by tomorrow." Madam Pomfrey said, and with a wave of her wand a fresh bed had appeared by James' side, he carefully laid Lily down and stroked her hair back behind her ears. He turned round as he heard Sirius come in,

"Madam Pomfrey here's the Dittany." He said as he handed the plant to her, he walked over to James who was at Lily's side, "come on mate," and he clapped him on the shoulder.

As the two boys entered the hall, everybody turned to look at them; the man at the front was stood, peeping at the children over his half moon spectacles. "There is a time for speeches, but this is not now, enjoy the feast."

*** TBC soon, working on something else currently, please check it out! This story WILL be finished before Christmas, promise! ***


End file.
